Bill Clinton treads carefully on health care after slip

ATHENS, Ohio (AP) — A day after framing President Barack Obama’s signature health care law as “craziest thing in the world,” former President Bill Clinton is trying to avoid muddling his message again as he tells voters in the battleground of Ohio that Hillary Clinton is their best option for a vibrant economy that benefits all Americans.

Bill Clinton only briefly mentioned health care during a winding 45-minute address Tuesday at Ohio University. The former president lamented that too many Americans “can’t get affordable health insurance premiums in a lot of places” if they don’t work for large companies, and he said his wife offers solutions.

It was a far cry from his remarks Monday in Flint, Michigan, which the former president did not mention as he spoke in Ohio.

“You’ve got this crazy system where all the sudden 25 million more people have health care and then the people are out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week, wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half,” Bill Clinton said on Monday. “It’s the craziest thing in the world.”

The comments are the latest reminder that the 42nd president is both a tremendous asset and a wild card for his wife’s candidacy.

He draws enthusiastic crowds eager to a see a former president who is anything but a normal political spouse, but he’s also managed to generate unwanted stories, including this summer when he approached Attorney General Loretta Lynch for a private meeting at an airport. The meeting was days before the FBI announced that it would not recommend any charges against Hillary Clinton related to her use of a private email server while she served as Obama’s secretary of state.

At the White House, Obama spokesman Josh Earnest said it was not “exactly clear what argument” Bill Clinton was making in Michigan. Earnest said Obama still has “strong confidence” in the law, and he cited subsidies that still allow “the vast majority” of shoppers in the individual policy market to find affordable coverage.

“President Obama has of course acknowledged that with cooperation from Democrats and Republicans in Congress, there are some things that could be done to further strengthen the law,” Earnest said, “and you know, that’s something that Secretary Clinton has vowed to pursue if she is elected president of the United States, and President Obama is certainly going to do everything he can to support that effort.”

In Ohio, Bill Clinton deflected a heckler early in his remarks. As he began to speak, a man yelled at the former president for signing a 1994 crime law that included stiffer sentences for many federal crimes. Clinton told the man “Hillary didn’t vote for the crime bill,” but noted that “Senator Sanders” did. It was a reference to the Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who challenged Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. Bill Clinton noted his wife has called for a criminal justice overhaul.

Clinton’s overall remarks focused on why Hillary Clinton would be better for the overall economy than Trump, who Bill Clinton described as playing on working class voters’ economic frustrations with lies and empty promises.

“Answers work better than anger,” he said. “Empowerment better than resentment. Bridges work better than walls.”